Entertainment Book Review: One Red Dog
At the Wellingtonista we don’t often give props to less consciously hipster places like One Red Dog, even though their continued success shows they have a devoted following. Today we discovered one of the reasons why this devoted following might exist.
Review after the jump.
Turning Chinese
Longxiang Restaurant, on Dixon St opposite the cowboy (or where the Cowboy
And if real Chinese people from China like it, it must be good, authentic, and tasty, right? I decided to test it out for myself, having previously only tried takeaways that suffered from long delays before we got to eat them, which is hardly a sporting chance.
So after the Beckon VIP night, I grabbed my constant restaurant buddy/sister Karen, as well as the Wellingtonista’s Hadyn and the delightful Amy and set out to give it a go.
Review after the jump.
Taking the Good with the Bad
Although Tom beat me to the chase on posting about the Waitangi Park Markets I thought I would supplement his post with a few secrets from the markets he may just have overlooked.
What I’ve enjoyed about the markets, apart from hauling my sorry tuckus out of bed at 8 or 9am on a Sunday, is the way it’s something of a little community.
Mind you, it’s a community made up of people whose names I don’t know, and there’s even a few I forgot to photograph. But you get the gist.
Vension guy here, for example, sells some pretty good salami. They’re brought in from some wholesaler called BaseCamp. We’ve got one hanging in the pantry gradually aging. It’s covered in a white mold and is starting to get properly stinky. Will probably use it on a pizza, or maybe in an antipasto of some kind.
This guy on the other hand might look like the fishmonger from the Asterix books, but he actually makes a pretty good variety of rustic breads.
We call him, “the nine-grain man”, because makes this fantastic bread. Keeps for about a week, and takes a whole lot of eating. It’s not delicate and refined like Moulin Bakery, but… who cares! You need to be making doorstop sandwiches? Get on down the market.
Soup’s up!
Apparently it is National Soup Week, and since we of course believe everything that marketing people tell us, we’d like to know where the best soup in Wellington can be found. Is it served in bread at Kapai? Whatever it is at The’Ho that Gemma from Texture obsesses over? Something from the ever-expanding Wishbone? Or is there really no better soup than Continental Cream’o Vegetable cup’o soup served in a mug under a duvet on a couch to fight off a hangover?
Entertainment Book review: Medina
Once again, I had left my book at home somewhere, so it was another gold card restaurant that was needed. Since my other sister decided to gatecrash our party, a total discount venue, rather than a two-for-one mains was desireable. And because it was cold and I was lazy and didn’t feel like walking anywhere, somewhere on the bus route home was needed – preferably somewhere that I could get a big plate of heartiness at. Medina was decided upon, as it seems to have beaten the curse that made other restaurants in its location at 18 Cambridge Terrace close down very rapidly. The review is after the jump.
Food! Show!
Hurray, it’s finally here. You know how we feel about the Food Show, so really, nothing more needs to be said except for what better way to drink off your hangover from Country Club: England?
Entertainment book: 88
Having recently purchased an entertainment book through the social club at work, I am determined to get more than my money’s worth out of it, so I’m going to try and work my way through it systematically.
First up I wanted a quick dinner before bowling, and since I didn’t have the book with me, only the gold card, it had to be somewhere in the ‘fine dining’ section, and it had to be somewhere in the Courtenay Quarter to be near The Lanes. A quick search on their website led me to 88 on Tory Street.
Your fortnight in coffee
Fairtrade Fortnight started yesterday, so I’m sure you’re keen to do your bit to make the world a better place. The Wellingtonista would, therefore, like you to help us do a little research.
There are a lot of coffee companies in Wellington who now offer fairtrade beans. We want you to get drinking and tell us what the best ones are. You can use the fairtrade locator to start your search, but it may be a little out of date – there is no Malo Cafe anymore, for example – so it might be best if you ask your favourite cafes if they have fairtrade beans – and if they don’t, ask them why the hell they don’t. Go forth and caffinate!
Wellingtonista boos: ads on our sacred space
Adjusting to the new offices on Lambton Quay hasn’t been easy, and a huge part of the problem has been trying to get into a new coffee routine. That is why it’s so distressing that Fresco*, which sells Mojo coffee, is now using takeaway cups printed with Telecom advertising. How many minutes will I spend thinking about coffee over the next two years? A lot more than I’ll think about switching to Telecom, you punks. Even if I hadn’t had my vodafone number since it was Bell South, there’s no way I’d switch now. Leave me alone and stop hounding me when all I am trying to do is wake up!
* Yes, their takeaway lattes are $4.50, but their muffins are $2.50, so breakfast is only 20 cents more expensive than getting a cheese scone and coffee from Kyrani.
Kai in our puku
Recently we asked you where the best places to eat on Lambton Quay are, and naturally, the internet word-of-mouth answered: Kapai Salads in Lambton Square.
There’s plenty of reasons to love Kapai, including:
- Whānau: Everyone knows someone who knows the owners, hence the mass emails and bulletin board postings about the shop.
- Mata: Your salad will be freshly made right in front of you, and you will get to choose the ingrediants yourself. No droopy lettuce and skankyass grated cheese here, no no.
- Taiao: The soup is served in bowls made out of bread, while salads are served in potatopaks (which you probably wouldn’t want to eat, although technically they’re safe enough to), minimising environmental damage. Plus, the coffee’s fair trade.
We’d like them to offer lists of available ingrediants and make it a little clearer which are the gourmet ones that’ll set you back an extra $1.50, but when you can get a rocquette, falafel and feta salad with aioli in less than five minutes and feel good about doing it, you’ll definitely be going back.